Perception
by ShannonSto
Summary: One idea for how to fix the Mitch/Jamie mess. A much needed conversation.
1. Chapter 1

Perception

 **Author's Note** : A quick fic, likely a one shot, to try to fix this whole mess. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely loving season 2, but I really need some Mitch and Jamie goodness before the season's done. I'm considering a second part for this fic, framing the whole conversation in Mitch's point of view.

 **Spoilers** : up to and including episode 2.09 "Sins of the Father"

 **Disclaimer** : I own and/or control nothing. If I did, Jamie and Mitch would have been together from 2.01.

Jamie Campbell woke with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Perhaps it was stress. Or maybe the fact that the few hours she'd slept had been fitful and restless. No, she knew, no…it was Mitch. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him with that woman, his hands and lips on her flesh.

 _I'm such a fool…what was I thinking? Why did I keep pushing him away?_

 _Stop blaming yourself-he's the cheating jackass!_

 _No, he's not. I gave him absolutely no reason to think there was any hope at all for us. He's a free agent._

 _He never cared at all, he was just playing you. Just like Logan. Once again, you were gullible and naïve._

 _No, that's not true. He did care. I saw it in his eyes. I heard it in his voice. I felt it in his embrace in Caraquet. But I hurt him. I hurt him bad. Maybe he's just as mixed up and turned around as I am._

She poured her morning coffee and headed downstairs to see if anything new about Jackson had developed in the last few hours. Just outside the lab area, she stopped short. What would she say to him? Should she just can the whole idea?

She retreated to the bar, where she sat trying to process everything. Her own role in the situation was now readily apparent. How could she not have seen how much pressure he was under? Dear Lord, the man had so much on his plate. The truth was that she'd been so wrapped up in feeling sorry for herself that she hadn't bothered to look around her and see how her friends were suffering. She'd behaved as if she had some sort of monopoly on pain, but the reality was that everyone was in pain. The sorrow in Abe's eyes as he relayed the truth about Jackson's mother haunted her. Jackson's diseased psyche was held together by gum and paper clips; on top of that he'd been forced to confront the realities of Chloe's death, his fathers's deception and the horror of what had become of his mother. And Mitch? Well, Mitch was tasked with keeping everyone else from falling apart while simultaneously holding the fate of the entire animal kingdom in his hands. The odds of success were very small. _If anyone can do it, he can_. She shuddered to think of what he must be going through now. If he failed to do the impossible, they were all going to die. No pressure there. It felt like a dagger in her heart to think how she had treated him, how she had continued to pile stress upon him.

 _Well, Campbell, you know what you have to do. Tell him the truth, all of it, and let the chips fall where they may._

She found him still in the lab, leaning over his hands flat on the exam table. He glanced over at her as she entered. His handsome face looked as though he'd aged ten years.

"Where are Abe and Dariela?" She broke the ice.

"They went to try to pick up Jackson's trail. One man in a sea of millions. Shouldn't be too difficult."

Just do it, Jamie. "Take a break," she said.

Mitch gave her a confused stare. "What?"

Emboldened, she put her hand over his and repeated herself kindly yet firmly. "Take a break."

"Jamie, we have less than…uh…" He glanced at his watch, "eighty hours here before every animal, including human, meets General Davies' ghastly gas."

"You've gotten all you're going to get from these bones. You know what it is, and where we might find it. Abe and Dariela are looking for Jackson. The machines are all buzzing, so I assume all your tests are running," she smiled amiably. "There's nothing more that you can do for a while."

He continued to stare at her, clearly trying to catch up.

"So let's take a break. Let's go sit someplace comfortable and talk," she insisted.

He stiffened his back and exhaled slowly. "I can't handle any more problems right now."

"I'm not going to give you any," she reassured. "I actually want to help solve one or two. So, uh, let's talk."

He followed upstairs to the living area where they settled into the soft sofas.

"So, uh," Jamie began, "I have a lot to say, and I'm not sure where to start. If I start at the beginning, it's going to sound very very negative. But if I start at the end, it won't make any sense."

"So start at the beginning. I'm running a special on 'negative' this week."

She nodded, and swallowed hard. How could it be that she hadn't even started and the tears were already threatening to escape?

"The thing is, I'm gonna need you to let me totally finish before you interject, because if I stop I might lose my nerve and not be able to start again."

"Ok."

"I'm gonna start by saying that I love you, Mitch…and I'm so, so sorry for the way I've been acting. It's like I needed to lash out at someone and the safest bet is always the person that's least likely to hit back," she explained, the lump in her throat growing by the second. "And the person that's least likely to hit back is gonna be the one who cares the most, which makes attacking that person an even shittier thing to do. Again, I'm really sorry, Mitch." _There, it's out there. The most important part._

She studied his face, trying to get a read. It was fruitless; his expression lead her about six different directions at once. He moved to speak, so she quickly silenced him.

"Let me get through all of it, ok? It's long…and its ugly, and parts may not even be factually correct, but its how I perceived things and my perception is what shaped my thought processes and actions."

She covered her eyes with her hand for a moment while she gathered her thoughts, then she continued.

"After the plane crash, I was basically unconscious until mid December. When I woke up, I didn't know where I was, or when it was. I didn't know if you guys were alive or dead. When Anik, the man who found me, brought me that sat phone, it was a lifeline. The moment I heard your voice, I knew that everything was going to be ok. The cure was found, Reiden was busted, unicorns were singing and we are all going to live happily ever after."

"And then I waited. I knew that you guys would be there quickly. I had the leopard all crated up and ready to go. Anik, he went outside—I don't know why. He didn't speak English, and I don't even know what language he was speaking. But he went out, and I turned and I saw it, there on the shelf, just looking at me. I don't know what the hell it was, I'd never seen an animal like that in my life, but it was kind of cute….seemed harmless enough, but I knew it shouldn't be there in the house. The door opened, and Anik fell backward through the doorway. He was dead. There were bears and wolves on the porch. They'd breached the fence. They came for the leopard, and I'll be damned if I was going to let that happen. I slammed the door shut and stashed the leopard in the basement. I figured the fewer entries and exits to protect, the better."

She paused to collect herself again. Mitch watched her intently.

"So then I decided to draw the animals away from the house, you know, so the leopard would be safer. I went outside and I got them to follow me. I hid in a thicket and waited for the wolves and the buffalo to move on." She bit down on her lower lip. "I heard a helicopter. Yay! I'm saved, they're here. It was so close I could almost touch as it flew over me."

She noted the rush of anguish that clouded Mitch's face.

"I couldn't believe it. You guys got the leopard….and you left _me_." The tears finally began to flow, and she hastily brushed them away. "Whether it's fair or not, I don't know, but I felt so abandoned and insignificant. Expendable. I told myself 'no, no, there must be something else going on. Mitch wouldn't just leave you here to die. He cares about you, you didn't imagine all of that in the lab and on the plane. He'll be back..' So I went back to the house. I boarded up the windows. I fixed the fence. I buried Anik. And I waited. I just knew that any moment, you guys would be back." She shook her head sadly, her voice trailing off to scarcely more than a whisper as she added " But no one came."

Mitch clearly wanted to say something, so she help up her hand.

"Please let me get through all of it. Morning came, but no people. No helicopter, no truck…nothing."

"I made sure that all of the animals were gone before I boarded up the house. But I heard a noise, and there it was again! That same cute but terrifying little guy. I don't know how he got in, but I knew then that I wasn't any safer inside than I would be outside—warmer, maybe, but not safer. So I decided to try to get to civilization. I studied the map, found what looked to be the nearest town, packed a bag and I set out for Caraquet. I left a message, visible from the air, so that just in case you came, you'd know where to find me."

"As it started to get dark on that first day, I looked down and noticed that I was leaving a trail of blood. There was a freaking nail all the way through my foot, and I didn't even feel it, that's how numb it was from the cold. That's when I saw the black toe. But I had to keep going, you know? I didn't have a choice. In my head, there was always this dialog, playing on a loop: 'they left you. They didn't give a damn about you. They left you.' I tried so hard to not let myself go there, but it was getting more and more difficult to deny. Soon after dark, I came around a bend and and there was a car just sitting there, a police car. Oh my God! I'm saved! I looked in the window and, um, there was a bunch of raccoons feasting on the body of the cop. Now the old Jamie, she would have been squicked out by that, eww, but Jamie 2.0? She had no problem yanking the poor man's corpse out of the car. Even the raccoons ran from her. But I'm so naïve, I still thought I was saved. I turned that key and…nothing. Of course it wouldn't start."

She looked up at Mitch, his expression once again virtually unreadable due to the myriad of emotions represented. She sniffled and started again, not wanting to lose her momentum.

"I was still the littlest bit optimistic then, though, so I thought, hey, at least you have shelter for the night. And in the morning I set out again. And I walked all day until it was dark again. I was thinking about where to start the fire when I turned around and ran smack into Logan."

Even saying his name brought rage and the pain of betrayal to the surface again. How could she tell Mitch this part and expect him to view her as anything other than a fool?

"He didn't even have a coat, or a hat. Nothing but a small duffle bag. I gave him the jacket I took off of the dead cop. He said that he was a bush pilot, hired by some hunters to bring them up there, but the plane crashed in the forest, and he was the only survivor. I asked why he didn't have anything warm to wear in that bag and he told me all that was in it was cash. Something about his girlfriend Kelly not trusting banks." She rolled her eyes at how embarrassingly absurd the story sounded to her now.

"Damn, I bought the whole thing." She gave a quick, sarcastic laugh. "There must be someone somewhere who wants to sell me a bridge in Brooklyn."

"When we got going in the morning, I don't remember the exact conversation that sparked it, but I do remember saying 'what we need is a gun.' He didn't really have anything to say about that. Later, when we were trying to figure out how we got off-course, he turned just right, and I saw it. Right there in his waist band. A gun. And he hadn't said a word , even when I'd pointed out how useful one might be. He could have been all 'a gun? Hey, check this out, it's your lucky day!' But he didn't. He chose not to tell me he had it. So then of course, the red flag went up. I figured I needed to find out what was really in his bag…it was beavers, by the way."

The amused eyebrow lift Mitch flashed her made her quickly realize she had skipped something. She rushed to clarify.

"Not in the bag! How we got off-course. Beavers. They diverted the river. We ended up seven miles in the wrong direction. A very very disheartening thing when you're cold, hungry and hobbling on a bad foot. We found a rocky hill that seemed like it would have a good vantage point to maybe see the correct route, match it up with the landmarks on the map. Logan, um, he volunteered to make the climb after I pretended like I couldn't because of my foot. It worked—he left the bag where I could get to it as soon as he was out of view. There was the cash, sure, but there was something else, too: pictures. Of me. Me outside Anik's house. Me in newspaper articles from last year. A chill went through me. I didn't know who he was, but clearly he was in those woods looking for me. Why? What was his angle? I knew I had to ditch him."

"We found an old barn or shed that night. It was starting to rain so I used it as an excuse to send Logan to get firewood, you know, before it could get too wet. He went out the front door, and I went out the back. But I didn't get far. I tripped. And he was there, standing over me with the gun in his hand. He wasn't pointing it at me, just holding it. He knew. He said so calmly, 'ok, so you looked in the bag.'"

"And I confronted him. 'Who are you? What do you want from me?' He said that it wasn't about me at all, it was about the leopard. The men who hired him weren't hunters. They hired him to fly them up there so they could get the leopard. He claimed he didn't know who they were, or how then even knew about the leopard. He said he lied because he was afraid I would bolt if I knew the truth. And I did just that. He begged me to trust him. I told him if he wanted me to trust me, he had to give me the gun. So he did. Pretty heads-up play on his part, really. He gives me the gun to gain my trust, then he gets the gun back because I trust him. Hey, maybe I should just forget the bridge and go for the magic beans, right? Too bad I couldn't have seen through it then. But I didn't, I went back to the barn with him. He wanted to look at the foot, see if there was anything to be done about it. It was worse. The black area had spread. I told him to chop it off, and he said he couldn't. So I pointed the gun at him and told him he had to. And that was that. And there, in the back of my mind, no matter how hard I tried to fight it: 'they left you. Mitch left you. Just…left you.'"

"Damn, did I mention this story is long?"

Mitch nodded.

"It's about to get a whole lot uglier. We're getting to the parts I'm afraid to talk about; afraid it'll force me to relive it. Afraid of what you'll think of me. And if I'm being honest, afraid of what I'll think of me. But it has to be said. Keeping it all in has been kind of toxic for both of us. But here goes nothing…"

She hesitated a moment, her hands noticeably began to shake.

"The next day, I think was the coldest. Absolutely miserable. And there wasn't a dry piece of wood anywhere. By the time night fell, I knew we were gonna die if we couldn't make a fire. I convinced Logan that we had to burn the only dry flammable thing we had: the money. We got a pretty nice little fire going, and we talked. About lots of things. We talked about you, actually. I told him I was confident that you would come through for me. He thought it would be nearly impossible for my friends to find me out there. 'You don't know Mitch,' I said."

"Like a mirage, I saw lights in the distance. Headlights. A car, yay! I'm saved! But Logan freaked out, doused the fire, said we had to run. 'Maybe I didn't tell you everything', he said. So we ran. When we'd made it what we thought was a safe distance, I demanded an explanation. And he gave me one. Probably a complete load of bullshit, but an explanation nonetheless. He told me that the men didn't give him the money as much as he just took it. And now their friends wanted it back. Small problem: the money was now a pile of ashes. I never heard them coming. Suddenly they were surrounding us, four of them. They had guns and knives, demanded the money. I told them we burned it, but I don't think they believed me. The one guy, he pointed the gun at Logan and I pushed it away. Can you believe it? I actually saved that bastard's life." She snorted at the irony of it all.

"Everything happened so fast that it's kind of jumbled now. From out of nowhere, the wolves came. But they didn't bother with me. They jumped the guys and left me alone. Kind of like the leopards in Zambia with those, um, African Hells Angels. The wolves attacked the bad guys and ignored me. Almost like they were purposely protecting me, as crazy as that sounds. So I ran. And I ran. And as far as I knew, Logan and the other men were as good as dead and I was all alone again. I came to a clearing where I stopped to catch my breath."

Each word became a struggle as she subconsciously clutched the pendant of her necklace.

"Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, and Rooney, the leader I guess of the men, the one who did all of the talking, he was on top of me with a knife to my throat. He was, like, twice my size. I don't know where I got the strength—maybe it's like when a mother can lift a car off her kid—somehow I got the knife away from him and I plunged it into his heart. Logan said it was Gwen, but I think it was right then that it happened. When something inside of me became irretrievably broken and I became a different person. I think that was the moment when I stopped believing in the fairy tale that I had anyone in my corner. I realized that I'm the only person on this screwed up planet that I can count on."

Mitch clearly wanted to protest, but she shushed him. "Look, I'm not saying that's what happened with the helicopter. The truth is, I don't know what happened. I'm telling you how it looked and felt to me at the time. And that belief, that _perception_ impacted everything. Perception stains reality, right? What I do know is that I was seconds away from being on that chopper, seconds away from none of this ever happening. The situation was too unsafe for six guys with machine guns and a helicopter, but it was apparently deemed ok for one unarmed woman on foot. Well, I'm not ok with that, and I don't know that I'll ever be ok again."

"Chivalry truly is dead. It's a lie I'll never believe in again. When I said I'd been blisteringly naïve, I wasn't talking about Reiden, or the cure, or even fate. I was talking about you. I learned that no matter how close I think I am to someone, When push comes to shove, nobody's gonna have my back but me. In the end, everyone will abandon me to suit their own agendas. That's the mindset under which I've been operating these last weeks."

She knew that Mitch was reeling, his face contorted, his eyes misting; but if they were ever going to resolve their issues, they needed to get everything out on the table. The tears began to flow freely now, and she made no attempt to squelch them.

"I'm not trying to be a bitch. I'm not trying to pile on. I'm just trying to , believe it or not, the story gets worse. Should I continue?"

Mitch nodded glumly. "Yeah, I need all of it. Warts and all."

"Ok, well, I stabbed Rooney. He lay there dying and I laid there defeated. I couldn't do it anymore. I was all out of fight. No one had come for me and the animals were still attacking, which meant that I could no longer believe that I may have been sacrificed for a higher purpose. If the cure hadn't been distributed, then I was sacrificed for nothing."

 _Should I tell him about Chloe? I don't really understand myself what happened there_. Ultimately, she decided she was more comfortable keeping that part private—for now.

"Then there, in the moonlight, I saw the car keys just lying there on the ground. I was almost afraid to believe it. Yay! I'm saved! In the distance, I heard Logan calling my name. How survived the wolves unscathed I still don't know. But now we had transportation. And, and heat. Things were looking up! We hopped into the nice warm car and motored toward Caraquet. But nothing good can last, so of course the car broke down, and Caraquet was in flames. And loaded with people who'd crawled straight out of a Stephen king novel. They denied having any working phones, but they gave us a hot meal and a shower to use. Yay! I'm saved! Stop me if you've heard this before. Ha ha, the joke was on me yet again. They weren't being nice, they were just happy to have strangers to feed to the polar bears."

"It seems they'd been holed up at the school for several months, periodically choosing a rube to appease the bears. They totally believed that they were staving off the attacks that way. The woman in charge was a battle ax named Gwen. Not only was she cool with condemning a stranger, someone who'd done absolutely nothing to her, but she was positively gleeful about it. I needed to save myself, again, so I got hold of a small can of propane and slipped it into Logan's pocket. I wasn't gonna go down without making sure that bitch knew she'd been in a fight. I didn't care who might get hurt as a result, I was going to defend myself at any cost."

"Along the perimeter fence, they had these barrels with bonfires in them. I told Logan to throw the can into one. It worked. There was an explosion, the fence came down and the bears attacked the townspeople. Men, women, old, young—it didn't matter. They could have stayed inside the school, but they all came out for the entertainment value of watching me and Maddie, who was one of their own, get mutilated by polar bears. So, in my new mentality, it was their choice to die like that."

Was he still with her? Would he hate her after he knew all of this? Would he ever be able to look at her the same way?

"Logan, Maddie and I made it onto the bus. I tried to close the door, but it wouldn't shut because Gwen was behind me with her arm through the door. She was begging me 'Jamie, please! Let me in. Help me!' I could see the bears coming up fast. I was safe then; Gwen was no longer a threat to anyone. I could have saved her life. But I chose not to. Instead, I pushed her out and closed the door. I barely flinched when it mauled her. Gwen wasn't the first person I killed, but she was the first one I killed for nothing but revenge, pure and simple. I killed Logan, too," she confessed. "Did you know that?"

Mitch shook his head, his face lined with concern.

"I killed him in cold blood then I came back and picked a fight with you, threw out cheap shots about your daughter. Stay classy, Campbell."

She swallowed hard. "Anyway, back in Caraquet, I told Logan and Maddie to go out the back of the bus; I was gonna draw the bears away so they could be safe. I felt responsible for the situation they were in, you know, because I brought Logan to that place, and Maddie was chosen to die because she tried to help us."

Regaining a tiny portion of her composure, she forged ahead.

"I stepped off that bus, and I saw you there, coming out of the mist. I couldn't believe it. It was everything I wanted, yet… _hollow_ , somehow. Chloe was dead, the cure had failed, life had passed me by at a dizzying pace…it was like I didn't even know who you guys were anymore. Like I didn't belong there. And all of those feelings of abandonment, betrayal, isolation, hopelessness…they descended like a ton of bricks. I was angry, and hurt, and confused. So inside out that I couldn't even tell which way was up. I was just in a free fall, staring at the rocks below."

"I'm sorry that it taken me so long to sort it all out, but I think I'm almost there. Curiously, meeting Max yesterday provided a lot of clarity. I wish I could explain how, but I really can't. It kind of gave me a reality check; a slap upside the head to remind me that I'm not the only one in pain."

Tell him this part, or don't tell him this part? Tell him, get it all out there.

"I was looking for,you last night. I wanted to tell you, well, all of this. I knocked on your door, but there was no answer. I thought you were sleeping, but I needed to talk to you. I really, really wish I'd walked away and not opened that door. But I did. And I saw you. With her. And my heart broke, and it's all my own damn fault."

Mitch's face turned ghostly white.

"I know you're with her now, but I still needed to tell you everything. And to apologize."

"May I? Now?" Mitch asked softly.

"Yeah, yeah, shoot."

"First of all, I am _not_ with her. I made a huge mistake last night; a mistake born from sadness, and pain, and loneliness and the confusion that always ensues when I have to deal with Max. I'm sorry that happened, and I'm sorry that you had to see that. Second, and this is huge: I never left you. And I never would have. I refused to get on that helicopter, I refused to leave without you. Nothing was more important to me than getting you back. I was dragged, against my will, onto the helicopter. You can ask Abe."

"When that plane crashed, my whole world crashed with it. I spent months mired in depression, drinking myself numb every day. Not a single day went by that I didn't regret having chickened out of telling you that I was in love with you when I had the chance. I wanted to, in that hospital lab in Zimbabwe, but you seemed a little freaked out about the other stuff I said, so I backed down. When I heard your voice come through that telephone line, it was like being given an oxygen mask. And when we missed you at the farmhouse, I was devastated. All I thought about was finding you, holding you in my arms."

"For what it's worth, I think you're being too hard on yourself. I'm sorry that you're hurting, it tears me apart to see it, but I'm selfishly grateful for everything you did out there. Because it brought you back to me."

"You don't think I'm some kind of monster?"

"You're not out on the street trolling for innocent victims, Jamie," he consoled. "You didn't hurt anyone who didn't try to hurt you first."

With no further words, she collapsed into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he held her. The sobs rocked both of their bodies as they cried.

"I love you, Jamie."

"And I love you."


	2. Chapter 2

Perception

Author's Note: A quick fic to try to fix this whole mess. Part 2, Mitch's POV. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely loving season 2, but I really need some Mitch and Jamie goodness before the season's done.

Spoilers: up to and including episode 2.09 "Sins of the Father"

Disclaimer: I own and/or control nothing. If I did, Jamie and Mitch would have been together from 2.01.

Mitch wasn't as young as he used to be.

He fondly remembered his college days; the parties, the all-nighters…it was only by luck of genetics that he'd been able to excel. Lucky genetics. Ha! Clearly he'd gotten any positives he had from his mother. To be fair, Max was a brilliant man. He also had a wicked sense of humor. Mitch supposed he should appreciate inheriting those traits, but with Max being Max, it was just…hard. A visit from the old man never failed to send Mitch into a psychological and emotional tailspin.

Now here he was, having spent most of the night out looking for Jackson then napping for barely an hour, sleep-deprived on top of everything else. And the fatigue was weighing on him.

He might have slept longer has it not been for the nagging guilt about his weakness with Allison. Sure, they had a history, but somehow it felt as if he were cheating on Jamie. Why? They were not a couple, and she'd given him every indication that she had no plans to make them a couple. How had that happened? From the moment he'd heard her voice on the phone, he had assumed that she would fall into his arms and they would pick up right where they left off. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine she would reject him. Had he misinterpreted some signal somewhere along the way? No, he was certain she was as happy to hear his voice as he was to hear hers. Whatever was wrong happened sometime between the phone call and meeting her in Caraquet. It was bad enough that she was treating like he was her enemy; it was even worse to have no idea why. He had done nothing to hurt her or betray her. He had stood up for her, defended her, worried for her. And there was clearly plenty to worry about. She was bitter and angry with moods that swung from cordial to outright hostility at the drop of a hat. He wanted so much to help her, if only she would let him. To see her in so much pain and not be able to do a damn thing about it ate away at his very soul.

"Any news on Jackson?" Allison asked, making her way into the lab.

"No."

"Listen, Mitch, are we going to talk about last night?"

"Last night," Mitch began, "was a mistake. It's good that we were interrupted. Saved me from myself."

"So that's the approach you're going to take?"

 _Lady, you had your chance. You left me for my father, totally betrayed me. I'm in love with someone else now._ "That's the approach that I have. It won't happen again."

"You're just going to pine away for her?"

"Yep." _Go away, Allison, you opportunistic snake._

"Mitch," Allison began as she placed her hand on his back, "you're in love with a woman who's made it abundantly clear that she's never going to love you back. Meanwhile you've got the weight of the world—literally, the weight of the world—on your shoulders. Everyone needs a soft place to land sometimes, a pressure relief valve. Even you."

"That's just it, isn't it?" Mitch was getting angry. "You knew what being around Max was going to do to me. And you knew that I was depressed and stressed, and overwhelmed by, by everything. And you knew how I feel about Jamie. You took advantage of me at my lowest point."

"The woman taking advantage of the man? That's a new one. You must think very highly of yourself."

"Have a good day, Allison." _Dismissed_.

"I've got some calls to make. You know where to find me when your in a better spirit."

Finally, she left.

He stared at the bones on the exam table as if they were suddenly going to jump up and do the flamenco. Without this critter, he couldn't help Jackson or anyone else. In three days, they would likely all be dead. How could he be so close to the cure, yet so far away? With his peripheral vision, he caught a blurry glimpse of Jamie approaching.

"Where are Abe and Dariela?" She broke the ice.

"They went to try to pick up Jackson's trail. One man in a sea of millions. Shouldn't be too difficult."

"Take a break," she said.

Mitch gave her a confused stare. "What?"

She put her hand over his and repeated herself kindly yet firmly. "Take a break."

 _What the hell is she doing?_ "Jamie, we have less than…uh…" He glanced at his watch, "eighty hours here before every animal, including human, meets General Davies' ghastly gas."

"You've gotten all you're going to get from these bones. You know what it is, and where we might find it. Abe and Dariela are looking for Jackson. The machines are all buzzing, so I assume all your tests are running," she smiled amiably. "There's nothing more that you can do for a while."

He continued to stare at her, clearly trying to catch up. _She's being friendly, Mitch. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth._

"So let's take a break. Let's go sit someplace comfortable and talk," she insisted.

 _Ah, there it is. She thinks I don't have enough on my plate_. He stiffened his back and exhaled slowly. "I can't handle any more problems right now."

"I'm not going to give you any," she reassured. "I actually want to help solve one or two. So, uh, let's talk."

He followed upstairs to the living area where they settled into the soft sofas.

"So, uh," Jamie began, "I have a lot to say, and I'm not sure where to start. If I start at the beginning, it's going to sound very very negative. But if I start at the end, it won't make any sense."

"So start at the beginning. I'm running a special on 'negative' this week."

She nodded, and swallowed hard. Were those tears welling in her eyes?

"The thing is, I'm gonna need you to let me totally finish before you interject, because if I stop I might lose my nerve and not be able to start again."

"Ok."

"I'm gonna start by saying that I love you, Mitch…and I'm so, so sorry for the way I've been acting. It's like I needed to lash out at someone and the safest bet is always the person that's least likely to hit back," she explained, the lump in her throat growing by the second. "And the person that's least likely to hit back is gonna be the one who cares the most, which makes attacking that person an even shittier thing to do. Again, I'm really sorry, Mitch."

 _Did she just say what I think she said? Or have I fallen asleep and lapsed into dreamland_? He moved to speak, so she quickly silenced him.

"Let me get through all of it, ok? It's long…and its ugly, and parts may not even be factually correct, but its how I perceived things and my perception is what shaped my thought processes and actions."

She covered her eyes with her hand for a moment while she gathered her thoughts, then she continued.

"After the plane crash, I was basically unconscious until mid December. When I woke up, I didn't know where I was, or when it was. I didn't know if you guys were alive or dead. When Anik, the man who found me, brought me that sat phone, it was a lifeline. The moment I heard your voice, I knew that everything was going to be ok. The cure was found, Reiden was busted, unicorns were singing and we are all going to live happily ever after."

"And then I waited. I knew that you guys would be there quickly. I had the leopard all crated up and ready to go. Anik, he went outside—I don't know why. He didn't speak English, and I don't even know what language he was speaking. But he went out, and I turned and I saw it, there on the shelf, just looking at me. I don't know what the hell it was, I'd never seen an animal like that in my life, but it was kind of cute….seemed harmless enough, but I knew it shouldn't be there in the house. The door opened, and Anik fell backward through the doorway. He was dead. There wear bears and wolves on the porch. They'd breached the fence. They came for the leopard, and I'll be damned if I was going to let that happen. I slammed the door shut and stashed the leopard in the basement. I figured the fewer entries and exits to protect, the better."

She paused to collect herself again. Mitch watched her intently.

"So then I decided to draw the animals away from the house, you know, so the leopard would be safer. I went outside and I got them to follow me. I hid in a thicket and waited for the wolves and the buffalo to move on." She bit down on her lower lip. "I heard a helicopter. Yay! I'm saved, they're here. It was so close I could almost touch as it flew over me."

 _That's what this is about! She saw the chopper, she wasn't far away like we'd assumed._

"I couldn't believe it. You guys got the leopard….and you left me." The tears finally began to flow, and she let them. "Whether it's fair or not, I don't know, but I felt so abandoned and insignificant. Expendable. I told myself 'no, no, there must be something else going on. Mitch wouldn't just leave you here to die. He cares about you, you didn't imagine all of that in the lab and on the plane. He'll be back..' So I went back to the house. I boarded up the windows. I fixed the fence. I buried Anik. And I waited. I just knew that any moment, you guys would be back." She shook her head sadly, her voice trailing off to scarcely more than a whisper as she added " But no one came."

 _God, Jamie, no! Expendable?! Not a chance in hell. There's absolutely nothing that could make me abandon you. I did care—and I do! Far more than you can possibly imagine._

"Please let me get through all of it. Morning came, but no people. No helicopter, no truck…nothing."

"I made sure that all of the animals were gone before I boarded up the house. But I heard a noise, and there it was again! That same cute but terrifying little guy. I don't know how he got in, but I knew then that I wasn't any safer inside than I would be outside—warmer, maybe, but not safer. So I decided to try to get to civilization. I studied the map, found what looked to be the nearest town, packed a bag and I set out for Caraquet. I left a message, visible from the air, so that just in case you came, you'd know where to find me."

"As it started to get dark on that first day, I looked down and noticed that I was leaving a trail of blood. There was a freaking nail all the way through my foot, and I didn't even feel it, that's how numb it was from the cold. That's when I saw the black toe. But I had to keep going, you know? I didn't have a choice. In my head, there was always this dialog, playing on a loop: 'they left you. They didn't give a damn about you. They left you.' I tried so hard to not let myself go there, but it was getting more and more difficult to deny. Soon after dark, I came around a bend and and there was a car just sitting there, a police car. Oh my God! I'm saved! I looked in the window and, um, there was a bunch of raccoons feasting on the body of the cop. Now the old Jamie, she would have been squicked out by that, eww, but Jamie 2.0? She had no problem yanking the poor man's corpse out of the car. Even the raccoons ran from her. But I'm so naïve, I still thought I was saved. I turned that key and…nothing. Of course it wouldn't start."

 _You were always strong, Jamie, you just didn't realize it. You've always been a fighter-that's one of the things I love about you._

"I was still the littlest bit optimistic then, though, so I thought, hey, at least you have shelter for the night. And in the morning I set out again. And I walked all day until it was dark again. I was thinking about where to start the fire when I turned around and ran smack into Logan."

Even hearing the name brought pain to him; the thought of her flirting with Logan in front of him, and trusting Logan instead of him cut into his heart.

"He didn't even have a coat, or a hat. Nothing but a small duffle bag. I gave him the jacket I took off of the dead cop. He said that he was a bush pilot, hired by some hunters to bring them up there, but the plane crashed in the forest, and he was the only survivor. I asked why he didn't have anything warm to wear in that bag and he told me all that was in it was cash. Something about his girlfriend Kelly not trusting banks." She rolled her eyes, clearly embarrassed. _It's ok, I understand now how it happened. You've given me the missing piece of the puzzle. We can put him in the past where he belongs._

"Damn, I bought the whole thing." She gave a quick, sarcastic laugh. "There must be someone somewhere who wants to sell me a bridge in Brooklyn."

"When we got going in the morning, I don't remember the exact conversation that sparked it, but I do remember saying 'what we need is a gun.' He didn't really have anything to say about that. Later, when we were trying to figure out how we got off-course, he turned just right, and I saw it. Right there in his waist band. A gun. And he hadn't said a word , even when I'd pointed out how useful one might be. He could have been all 'a gun? Hey, check this out, it's your lucky day!' But he didn't. He chose not to tell me he had it. So then of course, the red flag went up. I figured I needed to find out what was really in his bag…it was beavers, by the way."

The mental image that sprang to mind amused him, despite the gravity of the conversation. _There's that damn sense of humor. Thanks, Max._ Jamie must have noticed his expression, because she rushed to correct herself.

"Not in the bag! How we got off-course. Beavers. They diverted the river. We ended up seven miles in the wrong direction. A very very disheartening thing when you're cold, hungry and hobbling on a bad foot. We found a rocky hill that seemed like it would have a good vantage point to maybe see the correct route, match it up with the landmarks on the map. Logan, um, he volunteered to make the climb after I pretended like I couldn't because of my foot. It worked—he left the bag where I could get to it as soon as he was out of view. There was the cash, sure, but there was something else, too: pictures. Of me. Me outside Anik's house. Me in newspaper articles from last year. A chill went through me. I didn't know who he was, but clearly he was in those woods looking for me. Why? What was his angle? I knew I had to ditch him."

"We found an old barn or shed that night. It was starting to rain so I used it as an excuse to send Logan to get firewood, you know, before it could get too wet. He went out the front door, and I went out the back. But I didn't get far. I tripped. And he was there, standing over me with the gun in his hand. He wasn't pointing it at me, just holding it. He knew. He said so calmly, 'ok, so you looked in the bag.'"

"And I confronted him. 'Who are you? What do you want from me?' He said that it wasn't about me at all, it was about the leopard. The men who hired him weren't hunters. They hired him to fly them up there so they could get the leopard. He claimed he didn't know who they were, or how then even knew about the leopard. He said he lied because he was afraid I would bolt if I knew the truth. And I did just that. He begged me to trust him. I told him if he wanted me to trust me, he had to give me the gun. So he did. Pretty heads-up play on his part, really. He gives me the gun to gain my trust, then he gets the gun back because I trust him. Hey, maybe I should just forget the bridge and go for the magic beans, right?"

 _Let yourself off the hook, Jamie. Those were extraordinary circumstances._ Geez, it was taking everything he had to respect her wishes and remain silent.

"Too bad I couldn't have seen through it then. But I didn't, I went back to the barn with him. He wanted to look at the foot, see if there was anything to be done about it. It was worse. The black area had spread. I told him to chop it off, and he said he couldn't. So I pointed the gun at him and told him he had to. And that was that. And there, in the back of my mind, no matter how hard I tried to fight it: 'they left you. Mitch left you. Just…left you.'"

"Damn, did I mention this story is long?"

Mitch nodded. _I didn't leave you. I didn't leave you. I would never leave you._

"It's about to get a whole lot uglier. We're getting to the parts I'm afraid to talk about; afraid it'll force me to relive it. Afraid of what you'll think of me. And if I'm being honest, afraid of what I'll think of me. But it has to be said. Keeping it all in has been kind of toxic for both of us. But here goes nothing…"

She hesitated a moment, her hands noticeably began to shake.

"The next day, I think was the coldest. Absolutely miserable. And there wasn't a dry piece of wood anywhere. By the time night fell, I knew we were gonna die if we couldn't make a fire. I convinced Logan that we had to burn the only dry flammable thing we had: the money. We got a pretty nice little fire going, and we talked. About lots of things. We talked about you, actually. I told him I was confident that you would come through for me. He thought it would be nearly impossible for my friends to find me out there. 'You don't know Mitch,' I said."

 _Damn skippy._

"Like a mirage, I saw lights in the distance. Headlights. A car, yay! I'm saved! But Logan freaked out, doused the fire, said we had to run. 'Maybe I didn't tell you everything', he said. So we ran. When we'd made it what we thought was a safe distance, I demanded an explanation. And he gave me one. Probably a complete load of bullshit, but an explanation nonetheless. He told me that the men didn't give him the money as much as he just took it. And now their friends wanted it back. Small problem: the money was now a pile of ashes. I never heard them coming. Suddenly they were surrounding us, four of them. They had guns and knives, demanded the money. I told them we burned it, but I don't think they believed me. The one guy, he pointed the gun at Logan and I pushed it away. Can you believe it? I actually saved that bastard's life." She snorted at the irony of it all.

"Everything happened so fast that it's kind of jumbled now. From out of nowhere, the wolves came. But they didn't bother with me. They jumped the guys and left me alone. Kind of like the leopards in Zambia with those, um, African Hells Angels. The wolves attacked the bad guys and ignored me. Almost like they were purposely protecting me, as crazy as that sounds. So I ran. And I ran. And as far as I knew, Logan and the other men were as good as dead and I was all alone again. I came to a clearing where I stopped to catch my breath."

Her knuckles went white as she clutched the pendant of her necklace.

"Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, and Rooney, the leader I guess of the men, the one who did all of the talking, he was on top of me with a knife to my throat."

 _No, no he didn't. Tell me he didn't._

"He was, like, twice my size. I don't know where I got the strength—maybe it's like when a mother can lift a car off her kid—somehow I got the knife away from him and I plunged it into his heart."

 _Good. Bastard had it coming._

"Logan said it was Gwen, but I think it was right then that it happened. When something inside of me became irretrievably broken and I became a different person. I think that was the moment when I stopped believing in the fairy tale that I had anyone in my corner. I realized that I'm the only person on this screwed up planet that I can count on."

Mitch wanted to protest, wanted desperately to tell her how he fought for her and what she meant to him, but she shushed him. "Look, I'm not saying that's what happened with the helicopter. The truth is, I don't know what happened. I'm telling you how it looked and felt to me at the time. And that belief, that perception impacted everything. Perception stains reality, right? What I do know is that I was seconds away from being on that chopper, seconds away from none of this ever happening. The situation was too unsafe for six guys with machine guns and a helicopter, but it was apparently deemed ok for one unarmed woman on foot. Well, I'm not ok with that, and I don't know that I'll ever be ok again."

"Chivalry truly is dead. It's a lie I'll never believe in again. When I said I'd been blisteringly naïve, I wasn't talking about Reiden, or the cure, or even fate. I was talking about you. I learned that no matter how close I think I am to someone, When push comes to shove, nobody's gonna have my back but me. In the end, everyone will abandon me to suit their own agendas. That's the mindset under which I've been operating these last weeks."

Mitch was reeling. Now that he understood exactly where she was coming from, everything made sense. But oh God, to realize how much pain she'd been in and know that it could have been avoided if she'd just talked to him drove him crazy. He wanted to hug and scold her at the same time. Her tears flowed, and he noticed his own eyes beginning to mist as well.

"I'm not trying to be a bitch. I'm not trying to pile on. I'm just trying to , believe it or not, the story gets worse. Should I continue?"

Mitch nodded glumly. "Yeah, I need all of it. Warts and all."

"Ok, well, I stabbed Rooney. He lay there dying and I laid there defeated. I couldn't do it anymore. I was all out of fight. No one had come for me and the animals were still attacking, which meant that I could no longer believe that I may have been sacrificed for a higher purpose. If the cure hadn't been distributed, then I was sacrificed for nothing. Then there, in the moonlight, I saw the car keys just lying there on the ground. I was almost afraid to believe it. Yay! I'm saved! In the distance, I heard Logan calling my name. How survived the wolves unscathed I still don't know. But now we had transportation. And, and heat. Things were looking up! We hopped into the nice warm car and motored toward Caraquet. But nothing good can last, so of course the car broke down, and Caraquet was in flames. And loaded with people who'd crawled straight out of a Stephen king novel. They denied having any working phones, but they gave us a hot meal and a shower to use. Yay! I'm saved! Stop me if you've heard this before. Ha ha, the joke was on me yet again. They weren't being nice, they were just happy to have strangers to feed to the polar bears."

"It seems they'd been holed up at the school for several months, periodically choosing a rube to appease the bears. They totally believed that they were staving off the attacks that way. The woman in charge was a battle ax named Gwen. Not only was she cool with condemning a stranger, someone who'd done absolutely nothing to her, but she was positively gleeful about it. I needed to save myself, again, so I got hold of a small can of propane and slipped it into Logan's pocket. I wasn't gonna go down without making sure that bitch knew she'd been in a fight. I didn't care who might get hurt as a result, I was going to defend myself at any cost."

"Along the perimeter fence, they had these barrels with bonfires in them. I told Logan to throw the can into one. It worked. There was an explosion, the fence came down and the bears attacked the townspeople. Men, women, old, young—it didn't matter. They could have stayed inside the school, but they all came out for the entertainment value of watching me and Maddie, who was one of their own, get mutilated by polar bears. So, in my new mentality, it was their choice to die like that."

She kept glancing over at him as though she expected him to walk out on her or something. He was horrified, but not because of what she'd done: he was horrified by the terror and desperation she must have experienced.

"Logan, Maddie and I made it onto the bus. I tried to close the door, but it would shut because Gwen was behind me with her arm through the door. She was begging me 'Jamie, please! Let me in. Help me!' I could see the bears coming up fast. I was safe then; Gwen was no longer a threat to anyone. I could have saved her life. But I chose not to. Instead, I pushed her out and closed the door. I barely flinched when it mauled her. Gwen wasn't the first person I killed, but she was the first one I killed for nothing but revenge, pure and simple. I killed Logan, too," she confessed. "Did you know that?"

Mitch shook his head. _No, but I'm not mad at it_. Funny, he'd never stopped to think about what had happened to Logan.

"I killed him in cold blood then I came back and picked a fight with you, threw out cheap shots about your daughter. Stay classy, Campbell."

 _I took it for what it was._

She swallowed hard. "Anyway, back in Caraquet, I told Logan and Maddie to go out the back of the bus; I was gonna draw the Bears away so they could be safe. I felt responsible for the situation they were in, you know, because I brought Logan to that place, and Maddie was chosen to die because she tried to help us."

Regaining a tiny portion of her composure, she forged ahead.

"I stepped off that bus, and I saw you there, coming out of the mist. I couldn't believe it. It was everything I wanted, yet…hollow, somehow. Chloe was dead, the cure had failed, life had passed me by at a dizzying pace…it was like I didn't even know who you guys were anymore. Like I didn't belong there. And all of those feelings of abandonment, betrayal, isolation, hopelessness…they descended like a ton of bricks. I was angry, and hurt, and confused. So inside out that I couldn't even tell which way was up. I was just in a free fall, staring at the rocks below."

"I'm sorry that it taken me so long to sort it all out, but I think I'm almost there. Curiously, meeting Max yesterday provided a lot of clarity. I wish I could explain how, but I really can't. It kind of gave me a reality check; a slap upside the head to remind me that I'm not the only one in pain."

 _Wow, so Max is good for something. Who knew?_

"I was looking for you last night. I wanted to tell you, well, all of this. I knocked on your door, but there was no answer. I thought you were sleeping, but I needed to talk to you. I really, really wish I'd walked away and not opened that door."

 _No, no, no don't open that door! Please!_

" But I did. And I saw you. With her. And my heart broke, and it's all my own damn fault."

 _Smooth, Mitchell. Way to make a terrible situation worse. Surely she knows what that was about, though…._

"I know you're with her now, but I still needed to tell you everything. And to apologize."

"May I? Now?" Mitch asked softly. _With her? With_ _ **her**_ _?_

"Yeah, yeah, shoot."

"First of all, I am not with her. I made a huge mistake last night; a mistake born from sadness, and pain, and loneliness and the confusion that always ensues when I have to deal with Max. I'm sorry that happened, and I'm sorry that you had to see that. Second, and this is huge: I never left you. And I never would have. I refused to get on that helicopter, I refused to leave without you. Nothing was more important to me than getting you back. I was dragged, against my will, onto the helicopter. You can ask Abe."

"When that plane crashed, my whole world crashed with it. I spent months mired in depression, drinking myself numb every day. Not a single day went by that I didn't regret having chickened out of telling you that I was in love with you when I had the chance. I wanted to, in that hospital lab in Zimbabwe, but you seemed a little freaked out about the other stuff I said, so I backed down. When I heard your voice come through that telephone line, it was like being given an oxygen mask. And when we missed you at the farmhouse, I was devastated. All I thought about was finding you, holding you in my arms."

"For what it's worth, I think you're being too hard on yourself. I'm sorry that you're hurting, it tears me apart to see it, but I'm selfishly grateful for everything you did out there. Because it brought you back to me."

"You don't think I'm some kind of monster?"

"You're not out on the street trolling for innocent victims, Jamie," he consoled. "You didn't hurt anyone who didn't try to hurt you first."

With no further words, she collapsed into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he held her. The sobs rocked both of their bodies as they cried.

"I love you, Jamie."

"And I love you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** I wasn't going to extend this, but it sort of melded with another fic I've been working on. I'm sure after the airing of 2.10 this will officially be AU. Thanks for reading, and please review. Constructive feedback is always appreciated. ;-)

As all good things are wont to do, the moment passed all too quickly.

Allison appeared from nowhere.

"Jackson just called on the secure line. He's headed for Washington, D.C.."

"Why?" Mitch asked as Jamie pulled away.

"He wouldn't say. He wasn't making much sense."

"Does any of this?" Jamie wondered aloud.

"I'll call Abe and get them on their way back. Let Trotter know wheels up as soon as they arrive."

Alison's face was inscrutable as she turned and vanished down the stairs.

"How is Jackson planning to get from Helsinki to D.C.?" Jamie asked, aware that it was unanswerable.

"At least he has enough rational thought left to make contact. He's not completely Kovacsed yet," Mitch noted.

"You can still save him."

"We can try."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The nine hour flight from Finland to Washington, D.C. felt like one hour. The plane was abuzz with activity; from discussions of what to do with Jackson when they found him to lab results leading to further tweaks to the developing cure. Once they lassoed Jackson, they would head for Costa Rica to an island that looked and sounded suspiciously like Jurassic Park and attempt to locate an extinct ancient critter. The saber-toothed cat would give them the final ingredient needed to make a serum that would restore their friend, and the rest of the world, to normalcy. If anyone had told Jamie all of this two years ago, she would have laughed in his face.

Despite her heartfelt confession to Mitch earlier, she still found herself suffering surges of anger and rage. She was much better, to be sure, but it bothered her that the vitriol lingered. None of what happened to her was his fault. He had been a good friend to her. Without meaning to, they had wounded each other deeply; now time and understanding had to heal those wounds. Blaming him and lashing out at him were not going to help remedy the situation. The good news was that, so far, she was able to fight back against the rage when it surged.

Mitch had taken blood samples from each of them, including Trotter, for some test he was running. He'd said he needed as many different specimens as possible for a larger, more accurate, comparison study. Then he'd finally gone to get a few hours of much-needed sleep.

He awoke when he felt the initial gradual descent into the metro D.C. area. They'd be on the ground in twenty minutes or so, and he wanted to check his labs. He had carefully assigned each specimen a number rather than a name, on the off chance Davies or some other entity with ill-intent got hold of it. The protection of the privacy and safety of his companions was crucial.

Subject number one, Mitch himself, was finished and negative. He inserted the tube labelled with the number two into the centrifuge. Number two was Jamie. Something about her words left him unsettled despite the fabulous progress, and he hoped the test would ease his mind. The result would come in four to eight hours, depending on how well the machine was cooperating.

Ah, D.C. He stared out the window as they plane touched down. He still had an apartment there. A place to go where no one could interrupt us and the real world could vanish. _Don't do that, pal, you've got too much going on here._

The mass evacuation had left the city virtually abandoned. Mitch supposed he might have liked it that way, if only the reason for the solitude weren't so depressing. Still, the city was large, and locating Jackson wouldn't be an easy task—if he were even there yet. He wished he'd stayed in closer contact with Jackson and Chloe while they all lived there; it would make it easier to check the man's favorite haunts if he knew just where those haunts were. They did have a few ideas, which they would separate into pairs to check. After that, they were out of ideas until (unless?) Jackson contacted them again.

Jamie and Mitch headed for the lab and offices where Jackson and Chloe had been employed. Mitch's last memory of the building was one of total and utter despair. He had been dragged away from Jamie and the cure had failed. Everything had felt so hopeless in that moment. He didn't look forward to returning there. However, he didn't know the location of Jackson's apartment and Abe did, so Abe and Dariela got that assignment.

They parked in front of the building and got out of the truck. Not a soul was in sight. From the outside, the building was nondescript, it's innocent exterior an effective disguise for the top-secret goings-on within. Trying the door, they found it locked.

"I know where there's another door," Mitch said, disappearing around the side of the building.

Jamie watched him go as she stood beside the vehicle. No people, no animals…nothing stirred.

She was lost in thought as the attacker grabbed her from behind, placing one hand over her mouth and using the other to plunge a needle into her upper arm. Within moments, she faded to darkness.

Mitch found the side door locked as well. No sign of Jackson here, not that he'd really expected to find any. It was just the formality of covering all of their bases. He made his way back to the truck.

"I don't think we're going to find him here. This place is locked up tight," he announced as he turned the corner.

"Jamie?"

He peered into the truck.

"Jamie?" Panic began take hold. _Where the hell would she go? She wouldn't just take off, right? Oh God, what's happening here?_

"Jamie, where are you?!" He shouted desperately. The world began to spin around him as the realization crept in that she was gone. What should he do? He couldn't exactly call the police and file a missing a person report. He ran frantically around the area, finding nothing.

His hand fumbled in his pocket for his phone. "Abe? Abe! We have a big problem! Another big problem!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Now we have two people to find without a single lead," Dariela noted.

A search of the area had not shown any trace of Jamie. It was as though she'd vanished into thin air. Mitch calculated that he couldn't have been gone more than ninety seconds. The group had returned to the plane worse off than they were before.

"We have to stay focused," Allison said. "Jackson is the priority. We need him if we're going to stop the Noah Objective."

"Jamie is an equal priority," Abe stated firmly. "That's a mistake I won't make again."

Mitch pointed to Abe. "What he said."

"All right," Allison said, throwing up her arms in surrender. "What do you propose?"

"Whoever took Jamie wants something from us," Dariela replied. "They'll be in touch."

"You're assuming she was taken," Allison argued. "She's been behaving pretty erratically."

"She was taken," Mitch insisted. "She was in a much better place emotionally."

Dariela and I will continue to hunt for Jackson. I have a feeling that Mitch will be the one contacted about Jamie's ransom," Abraham reasoned. "He needs to be here when the call comes over the secure line."

"I'll handle it," Allison offered.

" _I'll_ handle it," Mitch told her firmly. His tone left no doubt that the subject was not open to discussion.

Conversation over, he retreated to his lab. The sense of helplessness was overpowering. He could do nothing for the woman he loved but wait for a telephone call that may never come. Meanwhile, the clock kept ticking down toward the launch of Noah. Only sixty-five hours to go. For now, he would try to occupy his mind with the blood he'd drawn earlier.

Subject two was finished. He pulled up the result on his screen. _What the?! No, there must be some mistake_ …But there was no mistake: his worst fears were realized.

Just when Mitch thought things couldn't get worse, they always seemed to find a way. His phone rang, bringing news of the realization of even worse fears.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jamie became aware of an awful pain in her head. She blinked her eyes, and slowly began to focus. She was in an unfamiliar room, handcuffed by her left wrist to a pipe on the wall. Straightening up in the plastic chair, she heard a voice. A face came into view as the cobwebs cleared.

"Hello, Ms. Campbell," General Davies said. "So lovely to see you again."

"How the hell did you know where we were?"

"You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?"

"Where am I? What did you do to Mitch?"

"I'm going to pass on those as well. I, do, however, have another old friend here who wants to see you."

"Hi, Jamie." Logan's voice sent a shockwave through her as he appeared beside the general.

"I killed you, you son of a bitch!"

"Seriously, Jamie?" Logan taunted. "Did you really think it wouldn't occur to me to pull the cord before I passed out?"

"Are you sure she has it, Logan?" General Davies inquired.

"No doubt."

"So we'll have to watch her closely." The general turned back to Jamie. "You'd better hope the good Dr. Morgan will be willing to bargain for you."

"He will," Logan reassured him. "He's got it bad for her, no matter how crappy she treats him. And remember, this is the guy who was willing to trade the chance at the cure to help his kid. He'll do absolutely anything for the people he loves."

"You bastard," Jamie hissed. "You set us all up real nice, didn't you?" To have Logan of all people point out how badly she'd treated Mitch was the equivalent of salt in the wound. And now she would be used against the man she loved, as if she hadn't caused him enough pain already.

"Here's what's going to happen," Davies began. "You are Phase I. If Morgan's willing to be reasonable and hand over Jackson Oz, your life just might be spared. If not, I'm afraid you're in for a rough time. Dr. Oz would prefer to perform his experiments on his son, but you'll do in a pinch."

"The joke's on you, General. Jackson's gone. Mitch doesn't know where he is."

"For your sake, I hope you're lying. But Oz isn't enough anyway. We also need Morgan's research. We can't have him pulling out a last minute miracle to impede the Noah launch."

"That monster!" Jamie mocked. "How dare he try to stop you from murdering billions of people!"

"2.2 million, Ms. Campbell."

"Well, that would be bad enough, but our information suggests the number will be much, much higher. Billions."

"Luckily, I'm not dependent on your bad Intel. I have real scientists on my team, not some out of work alcoholic veterinarian."

Jamie marshaled all of her resources to hold in her rage. "If you think he's incompetent, why are you so worried about his research?"

"Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut. I need to make sure that Morgan gives me everything he has. That's where Phase II comes in," he replied with a self-satisfied smile.

He summoned a man from the next room. "McGregor! Bring in Phase II."

A surly guard entered, his hands on the shoulders of a young girl. Her wrists were bound, and her face strained with fear, but she looked otherwise unharmed. At first Jamie was confused; then it hit her with horrific clarity.

"Oh my God," she scarcely more than whispered, "you're Clementine."

The girl nodded, then tossed her head to throw her shoulder-length blond locks out of her face. McGregor tied her to a chair across from Jamie.

"We'll leave you to get acquainted while I make some calls," Davies sneered as he and McGregor filed out of the room.

Logan watched them leave, then knelt before Jamie. "Maybe we can work something out."

"So now you're going after innocent kids, Logan?"

"I had nothing to do with that."

"You know she's sick, right?"

"I don't know anything about that. I'm in this for you. Jamie, it's not too late," he said. "You were pissed off at me, and betrayed, I get it. We can start over."

"Are you on crack?"

"Come on, I can get you out of here. Just say the word. We can go anywhere we want and start a new life together."

 _We're all dead in two days, you nitwit. Did you pay any attention at all while you were riding with us? Wait, maybe that's not the right approach._

"You know what? I will go with you. On one condition."

"What's that?"

She motioned toward Clementine. "Let her go."

"I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. No-you're right, you can't. It's not safe for her to just let her go. What you can do is deliver her safely to her mother, or to the plane, and I'll do whatever you want."

Logan grinned. "Anything?"

"Anything."

When Logan was gone, she addressed the girl.

"Are you ok?"

"I guess."

"Listen, ok, my name is Jamie. I'm a friend of your dad's. I'm gonna help you, but I'm really gonna need you to trust me."

"Ok." The girl nodded. "You really know Mitch?"

"Yep. You and me, we're in this together ok? I won't let anybody hurt you, I promise. I'm gonna get you home."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mitch had never been at such a low point. The Noah deadline loomed ever closer. Meanwhile, Jackson was still missing, doing lord knows what to lord knows who. And Jamie was missing. Taken by lord knows who for lords knows what purpose. And now Audra informed him that Clem had been abducted. Rushing to the bathroom, he gave up everything he'd eaten in days.

It was possible, maybe even probable, that Jamie and Clem were taken by the same abductor. But who? And why? No one had yet contacted him about either one. He considered the lab report before him, trying to decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Clementine.

The result was clear: Jamie had the mutation. How had he not seen it sooner? The fits of rage, the disproportionate violence, the apparent lack of aggression from the animals…it all fit together perfectly. He had to find her. Now, before something unimaginable happened.

The implication for his daughter was less clear: would Jamie's rage cloud her judgement and force a lethal error, or would it make her all the more protective of the child? She had spoken of a girl in Caraquet whom she had protected. She said she'd felt responsible for the fact that the girl was endangered. She'd shown no sign of violence toward anyone she didn't perceive as having threatened her…except Dariela. But then again, in her mind at that moment, Dariela had harmed someone she loved. All signs pointed toward protection for Clem, he decided.

"Mitch," Allison's voice sounded over the intercom, "there's a call for you on the secure line."

"Good afternoon, Dr. Morgan," Davies began. "I'm calling to make a deal with you."

"I don't make deals," Mitch said. "I'm not Monty Hall. Let me talk to them."

"Not yet. Let me explain the situation to you a little more clearly. I'm going to offer you two deals, actually. The first: You give me Oz, I give you Campbell. It's that simple."

"I can't give you what I don't have."

"We're not giving you Jackson," Allison said evenly.

"We don't _have_ Jackson," Mitch reiterated.

"You have four hours to produce him, or there will be serious consequences for Jamie."

"What's the second deal? Where's my daughter?"

"She's right here with me. She's unhurt, so far. And if you want her to stay that way, you'll hand over every bit of your research, including the animals. I'll call you in one hour to check on your progress. Don't screw with me, Morgan. I have no issue with turning the people you love into casualties of war."

Convening with the entire team, Mitch presented the situation.

"Obviously, we cannot give Davies what he's asking for," Abe said.

"Even taking Jackson out of the equation, if you give up all the animals you need for the cure, then we're all likely to be dead in a couple of days anyway," Dariela agreed.

Abe sighed. "Yet we cannot forsake our friends, let alone a helpless child. So what is the solution?"

"I was hoping _you'd_ have one," Mitch replied sadly.

"Look, he's got to be bluffing," Dariela suggested. "If he goes ahead and kills them in four hours, then he has no leverage."

"It's possible to inflict a great deal of damage to someone without actually stopping the heart," Abe said.

"How happy am I that you felt the need to point that out?" Mitch groused.

"I am sorry, my friend, but in order to solve a problem, we must identify it. We need to all be aware of what—and who—we're dealing with."

 _He's right, dammit. I hate when he does that_. "On that note," Mitch began, "there is one teeny tiny detail you should all know."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," Allison said.

"The test results are finished. You're all fine. But Jamie…Jamie has the mutation."

"Jamie has the triple helix? That explains a lot."

 _Is it just me or is Allison gloating?_ Mitch had to look away from her.

"Not exactly," Mitch informed. "Hers is different. More similar to what we saw last summer."

"What does that mean? Could she be cured the same way we cured it then?" Abe queried.

"I don't know."

Doubt was evident on Dariela's face. "Should we be worried?"

Mitch grimaced. He really, really would have preferred to discuss all of this with Jamie before the others, but there was simply no alternative. They each needed to know what they were facing. "So far her violence has been very controlled, targeted."

"But she _has_ been violent?" Allison demanded.

"I'm not going to betray her confidence," Mitch snapped. "I told you what you need to know."

"As someone she attacked, I may have a different opinion," Dariela challenged. "But I can handle myself. The question is, what does it mean for your daughter?"

"She'll help Clem. She's been very protective of innocents."

Allison cocked an eyebrow. "Let's hope you're right about that," she said acidly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"All right, it's time," Logan told Jamie in a whisper. "They're going to be in conference for twenty minutes or so. Let's go. Don't try anything, Jamie. My life is on the line here, too, and you know I'll do—"

"…whatever it takes," Jamie finished for him.

He untied Clementine, directing her to stay put while he uncuffed Jamie from the pipe. He cuffed the redhead's hands together behind her back and led her stealthily out the door to a waiting vehicle, all the while making certain she was aware of the pistol pointed at Clementine. Once in the car, he left the cuff on her left wrist and attached the other end to the seat belt latch. Clementine sat beside her in the back seat, also restrained.

Jamie had no intention of running away with Logan, nor giving him anything at all. She was confident that she could get herself free at any moment. However, doing so would be violent and bloody, and she'd rather not do it front of innocent eyes and ears; she hoped he would free the girl as agreed. Then she could get rid of him once and for all.

They drove what Jamie guesstimated was about twenty miles before turning into the airstrip. Just as she'd left it this morning, there was the plane shining in the sunlight. Throwing the car into park, Logan leaned into the back seat and untied Clementine's rope.

"Go," Jamie implored her. "Run straight for the ramp in the back. Mitch is there."

"What if he's not?"

"Then they'll call him and he'll be there soon. Anyone on that plane will help you. Go!"

As directed, Clementine jumped from car and walked nervously toward the plane. She was about ten feet from the ramp when Abe appeared and ushered her inside. He looked over at the car as it darted away.

Jamie watched wistfully as the plane disappeared from her view. _I'll be back soon…I just have one thing to take care of first_. At least Clementine was safe now, and wouldn't be around to witness the confrontation that was sure to come.

"Happy now?" Logan asked her.

"Yes, thank you. These cuffs are tight. Are they really necessary? I told you I'll go wherever with you."

"You already tried to kill me once, Jamie," Logan pointed out. "It's going to take a loooong time to regain my trust. Besides, just a few days ago, you were adamant that you wouldn't leave your friends."

"Things change," Jamie said cryptically.

"Like what? I'm taking a huge risk here, you know. Davies is going to kill me if he finds me."

 _He won't get the chance_. "Allison Shaw. She proved to be every bit the snake I thought she was. And the others? They blame me for bringing you in, nearly getting them all killed."

"She went after your boy Mitch, didn't she? I'm not surprised by her, but I am by him."

"Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving. He turned out to be no better than every other guy on the planet." Jamie rolled her eyes.

"I'll try not to take that personally."

"Take it however you want. It's just as well that you gave me an out. I was about to get booted anyway." She jerked the handcuffs to make the clinking sound. "Seriously, dude, can we take these off? I'm not going to bolt. I don't even have anywhere to go."

"Sorry, no. I've seen your work."

"You told Davies that I have it. What 'it' are we talking about?"

"The thing that tells me I need to keep you on a really short leash."

Jamie was becoming exasperated. "What are you talking about?!"

"If Mitch had done his due diligence, you would know. But he missed it, probably lost in a bottle of vodka, knowing him. So now you don't need to know."

Logan pulled the car into an abandoned rest area.

"Sorry, nature calls," he grinned. "Do you need to go?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Ok, I'll see if there's anything in those vending machines, too."

"Something chocolate," Jamie suggested.

She watched him go into the restroom. Once he was out of sight, she pulled the trunk access panel next to her and reached her arm into, blindly fishing for a heavy object. Tire iron. Perfect.

Grasping the item in her right hand, she braced herself for what she knew she had to do. She used all her might to bring the iron down upon her left wrist and hand, crying in pain as the bones smashed. Three more blows, and the job was done; her wrist was now able to slide through the handcuff. She was free. She hastily wiped the spattered blood from the window before Logan could return. Luckily, the dark interior of the car made the other marks less obvious.

He slid into the driver's seat.

"No chocolate, sorry. But here's some Doritos."

He never knew what hit him as the tire iron crashed through the back of his skull.


	4. Chapter 4

One hour. Davies had promised to call back in one hour. As of now, seventy-one minutes had passed. Mitch paced nervously. What did it mean? Had something changed? Had something happened to them? He didn't have anything to offer the general, but still he anxiously awaited the call, hoping against hope that he could talk the man into letting him see them or speak to them. He glanced at his watch again: seventy-three minutes.

Dariela's voice snapped him to attention.

"There's a car approaching." She peered out the window, gun in hand. "Looks like the driver and two passengers, but that's all I can make out."

"Let's go to the vehicle bay," Abe suggested.

"Maybe I can get a clear shot from there."

They headed toward the rear of the plane while Mitch went to the window. The car had come to a stop about one hundred feet away. Soon a rear door opened and a passenger exited. Could it be? It was! It was Clementine, walking toward the airplane. He ran for the vehicle bay and arrived just in time to see Abe ushering her aboard as the car sped away.

He pulled her frantically into a hug.

"Are you all right?" He demanded. "All you all right?"

"Yeah," the girl replied. "But you have to help Jamie!"

"You know where she is?"

"Yeah." She pointed to the car just turning a corner to disappear from view.

"Why did they let you go, but not her?" Abe wondered.

"She told him to," Clem answered. "She made a deal with him."

"Who?" Mitch asked.

"Logan. She told him if he brought me here safely, she'd do whatever he wanted."

 _That's not possible. She said she killed Logan._ The 'whatever he wanted' part filled Mitch with dread. "Are you sure his name was Logan?"

"Uh huh. She promised me she wouldn't let them hurt me. Please help her. He has handcuffs on her, and a gun."

Mitch flashed his best 'I told you so' glare at Dariela and Allison.

"We will," he reassured his daughter. "We will. Let's, uh, let's get you upstairs so we can call your mom and Justin, let them know you're safe."

Once Clementine had spoken with her mother, Mitch took over the phone for a grown up discussion. They had a real problem: Clementine clearly wasn't safe in the 'safe zone'. It was entirely possible that her abductors would try again. But she wasn't exactly safe on the plane, either. Only a few days had passed since they, too, had been overrun by bad guys. And the situation with Jackson and Jamie could turn very ugly very quickly. The eventual decision was that Audra and Justin would come get her, then drive to a different safe zone so that Davies wouldn't know where to look. They would arrive in roughly two hours.

He gave the girl the grand tour of the plane, showed her all of the cool, unusual animals, and set her up in front of the TV upstairs.

Now, back to the hunt for Jamie and Jackson. She was away from Davies, which was good, but being held by Logan, which was bad.

He stood with the others in the lab, hoping to map out a more solid plan.

"We know your daughter is safe," Abe said. "Now we have to find Jamie."

"You won't have to look very hard," a familiar voice intoned.

Stunned, they turned to see Jamie standing in the doorway, bloodied but alive.

"Jamie!" Mitch rushed to her. The fear was evident in his voice. "Are you ok?"

"More or less," she hedged. As Mitch dabbed tentatively at the blood, she added, "most of its not mine."

He led her upstairs, away from the group and into her room.

"Thank you for helping Clem."

"Is she ok? Not too traumatized?"

"She seems good. Uh, I'm almost afraid to ask, but Logan…?"

"Suffice to say he's dead for real now." She motioned toward the bathroom. "I really need a shower."

Mitch nodded. "Ok."

His feelings about the demise of the younger man were, to say the least, mixed. He was thrilled that Jamie was safe, but worried about the toll another killing would take on her fragile mental state. He didn't look forward to telling her about her lab results, especially when she learned that the rest of the team already knew.

He decided to pass the time by letting Clem know that Jamie was back, and would be fine. At least he could make _one_ person happy.

"Mitch!" Came the shout over the intercom.

He bolted down the stairs as the planes engines fired. By the time he reached the bottom riser, they were taxiing.

"Davies and his cronies are here!" Dariela told him.

"I told Trotter to get airborne before they can board," Abe said.

"I guess he knows the drill by now," Mitch mused. A glance out the window revealed at least two trucks trailing them. He braced against the wall as the wheels left the ground and the plane lurched.

 _Damn, what about Audra? I guess Clem's with us by default now._

"We should continue to Pangaea," Abe suggested. "It's probable that Jackson has not yet made his way to Washington. We can get the saber-toothed cat and return with the cure."

"Ok," Jamie called from the top of the stairs. "I had two places left with no bruises…maybe a little warning before taking off next time." She flashed a grin to let them know she wasn't actually angry. "When you get a chance, Doc, I could use a little help with my hand."

"All right, let me get some supplies and I'll be up in a minute."

Jamie headed to the living quarters, where she found an anxious Clementine.

"Apparently, we're going somewhere now," she smiled kindly at the girl.

"Your hand…" Clem's eyes widened.

Jamie hadn't realized how gory it looked. It was purple and lacerated, and now it was beginning to swell.

"It's not as bad as it looks," she said. "I just caught it in the door when I was getting away."

"How did you get away?"

Jamie fell silent, unable to come up with an appropriate response. Fortunately, Mitch had come up behind her and quickly changed the subject.

"Let's look at that hand," he said. "We're just going into the next room, Clem."

Back in her bedroom, Mitch gently examined the tortured hand and wrist.

"Thanks. I didn't know how to answer that one."

He grimaced at the mess of shattered bone. "Do I want to know what happened here?"

"Probably not," she wrinkled her nose. "I smashed it with a crow bar."

"On purpose?!"

"Yeah, I had to to get out of the cuffs."

He exhaled slowly. "Well," he began, "the bad news is…this is going to require many hours of surgery to ever be anywhere near normal."

"And the good news?"

"Between the foot and the hand, I'm pretty sure you're going to be bionic."

"Awesome." She grinned sarcastically and gave him a thumbs up with her uninjured hand.

"For now, we can splint it. Immobilization should help a bit with the pain. We have some anti-inflammatories that we can use, too. Over the counter stuff. Sorry to say, I don't have anything stronger. That has to hurt like a son of a bitch."

"It does, but it's ok."

He set to work cleaning her wounds and splinting her arm, wondering when the best time would be to approach the other issue. She pulled him away from his thoughts.

"Any luck locating Jackson?"

"That's a big fat negatory. And now, Davies tried to storm us, so we had to take off."

"What's the plan?"

"We're thinking that Jackson doesn't have the kind of transportation we have. He's probably not even in D.C. yet. So we're going to go on to Costa Rica, get the cat and, if the stars are aligned, come back to find Jackson with the cure at the ready."

"We're bringing your daughter?"

"The initial plan was for her mom to come get her and take her to the Portland safe zone. But Davies put the kibosh on that."

 _Should I tell her Allison left the plane to go to Capitol Hill for an errand? Or should I not even broach the subject? Alison's going to be so irritated to return and find her plane gone_. He nearly laughed aloud.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm wondering if I should point out that while we've added Clem to our list of traveling companions, we've subtracted Allison. She's not going to be too happy about the unplanned departure."

"I'll take that trade-off any day."

He released her arm. "How's that?"

"Better," she told him gratefully. "I assume I'll be getting a bill for all this?"

"Count on it. Lots of bills going out. We've done everything on this plane except deliver a baby and transplant a heart."

"There's still time."

"Bite your tongue."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" She teased.

"I'm all adventured-out this week, thank you."

"Maybe next week."

"Well, given that I'm a DVM not an MD, any attempt to pursue payment could end up with me behind bars for practicing medicine without a license."

Jamie chuckled. "It'll be our little secret. And just so you know, I'd rather have you treat me than any MD I've ever encountered."

"There is something I need to talk to you about," he blurted.

"Like what?"

"Your test results. There's no easy way to tell you this…you have the mutation."

After a brief pause, she asked quietly, "are you sure?"

"Yes. I've double—and triple—checked. It's definitely there."

"It actually explains a lot," she said sadly.

"Yeah, it kinda does."

"So what does it mean? Am I going to end up like Jackson's mom?"

"No."

"You can't know that." There was no challenge to her tone, only resignation.

"Actually, I can. See, here's the thing: yours is different from theirs. More…primitive."

"Primitive?"

"Yes. We've previously seen two different incarnations of this thing. Yours is a third. But I think yours actually is the earliest of the three."

She stared intently at him.

"Think of it like a computer program. Yours was the first version to be released—the beta test, if you will. Then they worked out some bugs and released it in the form we saw last summer. The Evan Lee Hartley version. But we cured it. So they pulled it back, tweaked it and now we have the upgraded, 2.0 version. That's the one Jackson has…and his mother, and Kovacs."

"Each one increases in intensity," Jamie added.

"Yes. Remember, Hartley wasn't an indiscriminate killer. He wasn't put off by a little collateral damage, but he always had specific targets. He was very controlled and purposeful in what he did."

"True."

"And you've proven that you are, too. You've been very cunning and calculated. The triple helix, on the other hand, makes its host just randomly slaughter anything that moves."

"Cunning and calculated, two words I would never have thought would be used to describe me. And yet I'm surprisingly cool with it."

Mitch shrugged. "Consider the alternative."

"Ok," Jamie wanted to make sure she was following correctly. "So Jackson got his from an injection his father gave him. Then it lay dormant for thirteen years until he was bitten by the dog. And Hartley said he got it from Robert Oz, too, but his is different than Jackson's? Where did I get it? And what triggered it? I haven't been bitten at all. And if its the first version, how did I get it after Jackson got his?"

"I don't know," he told her truthfully. "But I think you've probably had it for a very long time, longer perhaps than Jackson."

"That would explain why the leopards in Zambia attacked those guys but ignored me. Come to think of it, every time I've thought an animal was attacking, there was someone else with me. Is it possible that the other person was always the target? When I'm alone, they've sniffed me, or just walked right by me. Oh my God, how could I not have known this thing was in me?"

"Who in their right mind would suspect such a thing?"

"So will the triple helix cure work on me?"

"I don't know that, either. But I _believe_ it will. And if it doesn't, then we break into the office in D.C. and get our hands on our earlier cure." He grasped her right hand in his. "One way or another, we _will_ get through this."

"We will." She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.

"There is one more thing," he said.

"Of course there is."

"The others already know about this. I'm sorry, but it didn't seem prudent to withhold information from the people directly involved. They need to know what they're dealing with."

She bit her lip.

"They don't know anything that you told me in private, though."

"Ok." She exhaled as she buried her face in his chest.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was late afternoon when they left Washington. The six and a half hour flight time to the Costa Rican city of San Jose would place them there around ten at night. Then, they would have to charter a boat for the short trip to Pangaea. Logistically, this was a problem. It would be much easier to find the cat in the daylight. Unfortunately, though, time was not on their side. They didn't have the luxury of waiting for sunrise. They had only fifty-eight more hours.

They were winging their way down the eastern seaboard by dinner time. The group gathered around the kitchen island.

"Mr. Krabbs is the man!" Dariela enthused.

"I still like Gary best," Clementine grinned. "'Snail Bites' is like the best episode ever."

"I'm a Squidward man myself," Mitch chimed in.

"I'll bet," Dariela laughed. "You _are_ Squidward!"

"I'll wear that as a badge of honor."

"He's the smartest," Clem said. "He's funny 'cause he's so snarky but underneath he really does care about the others."

"Like I was saying…" The ranger smiled. "Man, I will never look at you again without seeing a tall, skinny squid."

"Perfect," Mitch said good-naturedly. "That's just what I was hoping for."

Jamie shook her head. _Note to self: watch more SpongeBob._ She found it amusing to note how much like Mitch Clementine was. She found herself daring to imagine a future with the man, a future that included his child, and she kind of looked forward to it.

Seemingly out of the blue, Mitch jumped up and scrambled to the intercom.

"Trotter, it's Mitch. We need to change course. We need to make a pit stop….Folsom, Louisiana."

"Louisiana? What is in Louisiana?" Dariela asked.

"It just occurred to me. It's not what _is_ in Louisiana," Mitch responded. "It's what _was_ in Louisiana."

"The Folsom chemical spill," Jamie said simply.

"Right on. You always knew it was worse than the government let on, and you were right. We need to get as close to ground zero as possible. We need soil and ground water samples."

"You think that's where I got it."

"It's the only thing that makes any sense. It was what, twenty years ago?"

Jamie nodded in affirmation.

"If I'm right," Mitch explained, "that's where it all began. Suppose the source of the mother cell is the site of the 1895 outbreak. Then Reiden discovers this substance a hundred years later and realizes it's vector potential. They begin using it. Then there's the terrible accident in Folsom. Robert Oz, who's been studying animal behavior, notices something hinky going on and collects samples. He tries to tell anyone who will listen, but, of course, no one listens. He uses the samples to create a synthetic version with which he then begins human experimentation."

"What will the soil and water samples tell us?" Abe asked.

"Most importantly, whether I'm right. And of course there's that slight possibility we may need them for the cure."

"But when it first happened," Jamie argued, "the EPA did all kinds of testing."

"Yes, but they weren't testing for the same things we are."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Why can't I go?" Clementine protested as Mitch attempted to coax her to climb into bed for the night.

"Because one, it's very late, and two, it's just safer for you to stay here."

"By myself?"

"No, Dariela's going to stay aboard. She'll be within earshot if you wake up and need something."

"Is Jamie going?"

"Yes," Mitch explained, "it's her hometown. We need her familiarity with the area."

At last, he convinced the girl to try to get some sleep.

He climbed into the passenger seat beside Jamie. "Shotgun."

"Don't worry," Abe grumbled, "the best place for the largest man is the back seat."

"So we're good, then" Mitch smirked.

Jamie piloted the vehicle out of the plane. "My memory's a little fuzzy, but Google says the Reiden plant was out Pickett Road, a few miles past the high school. Maybe fifteen minutes from here."

They drove on through the darkness, the headlights illuminating a narrow swath of roadway.

"Didn't that sign say 'Pickett Road'?" Mitch pointed as they whizzed past it.

"Making a detour," Jamie said distantly.

Presently, she turned up a long drive way, coming to a stop in front of an old farmhouse. The place had clearly been abandoned for years. Weeds had overtaken the property and the home was dilapidated.

"Are we getting out here?" Mitch asked as Jamie clung to the wheel and stared at the house.

She remained silent, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Jamie?" Abe began. Mitch raised his hand to silence him.

After a minute or so, she turned to the men.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been here in a really long time. I just felt compelled to see it."

"Your house?" Mitch asked.

"It was."

"Go ahead. Get out and look around."

"No," she sniffed. "There's nothing here for me now." She gave a reassuring half-smile and shifted back into drive. "Time to close the door on the past."

They came upon the site of the chemical spill and collected their samples. In the interest of thoroughness, Mitch made certain to get samples at the epicenter, then each half mile away until five miles had been reached. Time consuming, he knew, but if it could be used later to project the number of victims or prove Reiden's culpability, it would be worth it.

They returned to the plane having accomplished what they set out to do and immediately took off for Costa Rica. Mitch prepped the first specimen and fed it into the machine. Yawning, he dragged himself upstairs. He checked in on Clem, satisfied that she was sound asleep in his bed. Rummaging in a closet, he retrieved an extra pillow and blanket and tossed them onto the sofa in the living room.

"You're going to sleep on the couch?" Jamie asked as she came up behind him.

"Well, Clem took over my bed, so…"

"There is another option," she said suggestively. She closed the gap between them and kissed him on the lips. The kiss was unlike the last kiss they shared on an airplane; instead of exploratory and tentative, this was deep and passionate.

"That's a good option," Mitch said breathlessly, breaking the kiss briefly.

"Hmmmm…my room is right there."

"Are you…are you sure about this? 'Cause I kind of feel like I'm taking advantage of your illness somehow."

She kissed him again feverishly. "This isn't the act of a mutation; this is the act of a woman in love," she whispered. "And I don't want to die not knowing what it's like to make love with you."

He didn't require any further incentive.


	5. Chapter 5

_Landing. Already. Jesus, it seems like we just took off._ Mitch stretched and strained to see the clock on the other side of Jamie. He found his glasses. Four in the morning, Eastern Daylight Time. But what was the local time here in Costa Rica? One would think he would be an expert at adjusting to continuously changing time zones, but, alas, he was not. His phone used the satellite for accuracy, but he would have to wake the beautiful woman draped over him to reach it.

"What time is it?" Jamie mumbled groggily, as if reading his mind.

"Not sure." He gently slid away and sat on the edge of the bed, fumbling for his pants. Jamie reached over and switched on the lamp.

He retrieved the phone from his pocket. "Two a.m."

"Well, at least we got a _few_ hours of sleep." She sat up in the bed, straightening the sheets. "Um, Mitch?

"Hmm?"

"Severed appendages don't grow back, right?"

"Not unless you're a starfish."

"Or maybe a mutant. Check this out." She directed his attention to her right foot, where what had been an empty space now sported an inch growth of toe.

Mitch couldn't disguise his shock as he struggled for an explanation.

"Well we have seen super healing capabilities before. I mean, Dariela put a steel rod through Kovacs' chest and he recovered from it within thirty six hours. His arm didn't grow back, though."

"The mutation makes its species stronger, right? More capable of surviving and thriving," Jamie recalled.

"Yeah. This," he said as he caressed her toe, "is pretty remarkable."

She flexed the fingers of her mangled left hand. "I wonder if it will help with this, too."

"How's it feeling?"

"Not too bad. Any chance we can wait to fix the mutation until all of this is finished fixing itself?" She joked.

Off his mock glare over the rim of his glasses, she sighed. "I didn't think so."

"Well, let's go not see Costa Rica."

Once dressed, the headed downstairs. Abe and Dariela were already in the kitchen making coffee.

"I told Trotter we will be here for several hours at least, so that he can sleep," Abe informed them.

"Good."

"What's the plan, Boss?" Dariela asked.

"The plan," Mitch groused as he poured his coffee, "is for you to never ever call me that. And rent a boat. That, too."

"We will go secure the boat. It may be difficult at this hour. No sense in dragging a child around yet," Abe said.

"Thanks."

"Ready?" Abraham asked Dariela.

She took his arm as they disappeared into the vehicle bay.

"What _are_ you gonna do about that?" Jamie asked. "Going ashore on this island could get dicey, but we can't really leave her alone on the plane, either."

"Yeah, I don't guess there's really much of a choice. Have to take her. At least there's safety in numbers, right? Isn't that what they say?"

"Gonna wait to wake her up until Abe calls?"

As she spoke, she hit her knee on the edge of the counter, causing her to shriek in pain. She slammed her coffee cup onto the floor and quickly grabbed Mitch's to throw also.

Mitch winced to see the rage reappear in her eyes. "I didn't need that, anyway."

Realizing at once what she was doing, she gathered herself. At least she seems to be gaining control over it, he reassured himself.

That call came sooner than expected. Abe and Dariela found a boat which, though small, was large enough to accommodate four adults, one child and one large animal crate. Jamie and Mitch packed up Clementine and their supplies and headed for the docks.

The group loaded up the boat and set off for Pangaea, estimating the ride to be about thirty minutes.

"Listen, this goes against everything I've ever believed in," Mitch began, "but the tranqs are only for the saber-toothed cat. We have no idea what sort of creatures these people experimented with. Be ready with the rifles."

"Thinking we'll see a dinosaur?" Dariela asked.

"Who the hell knows? Everyone stays together. No one wants to be alone when they come across something like arctodus simus, or a spinosaurus. Nor do you want to wait for tranq darts to take effect."

"Arcto—? You know what, I'm just gonna take your word for it." Jamie responded.

"I'm confused," Clem said. "How did they make these animals over a hundred years ago? I thought they said in science class that DNA was discovered in the 1950s."

"Hmm, yes and no. It was in 1953 that Watson and Crick identified the three dimensional double helix, but DNA itself was first discovered in the 1860s by a Swiss chemist named Friedrich Miescher," Mitch expounded. "So yeah, in the late 1800s there was definitely some experimentation going on."

As she always had, Jamie found it endearing when Mitch went off on one of his professorial tangents.

"You totally would have made a car out of coconuts, wouldn't you?" She teased, eliciting laughs the others.

"It could definitely be done."

Even from a distance, Pangaea was beautiful. Lush, green majestic mountains towered over picturesque valleys. It was unfortunate that they still had hours of darkness before they would be able to see much of it. It was a small island, but for their purposes, it was gargantuan. They didn't even know where to start looking for a creature which may or may not exist there.

They pulled the boat up onto the beach and moored it to a sturdy-looking tree.

"We are at the far southeastern tip," Abe noted. "That may be important for finding our way back."

 _So here we are in the dark, searching for an extinct animal, armed to the teeth, with absolutely no idea of what we may be walking into. Audra won't need a mutation to be homicidal about this. She doesn't even want Clem around_ _ **toy**_ _guns. Good thing she doesn't know_ _ **why**_ _Clem and I are going to stick very close to Jamie._

"Seriously, no one goes rogue. We have to stay together."

"Which way do we go?" Dariela wondered.

"This way," Jamie said decisively as she shone her flashlight on a set of pawprints leading into the jungle.

"Those aren't the tracks of a cat," Abe said.

"Well, at least it's something."

Dawn arrived with no trace of the cat. They encountered a few of the more mundane members of the animal kingdom; squirrels, bobcats, the odd bird, but nothing that impressed them.

"After all this," Jamie joked, "I'm gonna be pretty pissed if I don't see a pterodactyl."

"Easy for you to say," Abe smiled. "I would rather not see one."

"A stegosaurus would be cool, though," Clementine chimed in. "They didn't eat meat."

"All right," Jamie agreed. "I'll settle for a stegosaurus."

"Wait—" Mitch interrupted the conversation. "What is that noise?"

Whatever it was, it sounded big. They followed the sound to the edge of the jungle to a wide open plain.

"Should we really be going toward whatever it is?" Jamie whispered. Her expression turned to one of awe as the animal came into view. "Holy…is that what I think it is?"

"It's a wooly mammoth," Mitch confirmed. "They've been extinct for ten thousand years."

The creature lumbered across the field, oblivious to their presence a hundred yards away.

Clementine grabbed his arm. "Take a picture!" She faced the phone with the mammoth in view behind her.

Mitch looked unsure, so Jamie and Dariela both quickly obliged.

"Are we finished here?" Mitch asked. _Damn, when did I get so uptight? 'Hey you kids, get off my lawn!' See, this is why I don't want responsibility—look what it does to you._

Lightening up, he took their phones and took pictures for them, too.

At lunchtime, they found a nice spot by a stream for a picnic. It was really a shame that they didn't have time to fully enjoy the paradise that surrounded them. They were repacking their gear when Dariela spotted something.

"What about these tracks?"

Mitch and Abe immediately went to investigate.

"They're plantigrade, and about the right size," Mitch assessed. "Looks like we're going this way."

Within the hour, they had successfully captured a saber-toothed cat. Getting the unconscious animal back to the boat was a little more challenging, but still, they managed. And, to Mitch's relief, they managed without confrontation from other animals.

They returned to the plane victorious; everyone's spirits were high. Everyone, that was, except Mitch.

He sat alone in his lab, staring at the cat in the cage.

"Is something wrong, Mitch?" Abe asked as he entered. "You have all seven of the animals now, right?"

"Yes, I do," Mitch answered somberly. "I have everything I believe that I need. So now I have no excuse for failure."

"So now…" Abe said softly, "you will not fail."

"There's so much riding on this."

"Yes. Yes, there is. That is how I know that you will succeed. You always find a way when we need you."

"Yeah, well, there's a first time for everything."

"I'll leave you to it. If there's anything, just let me know."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three hours later, Mitch decided to take a short break while the centrifuge was spinning. He wandered upstairs, where he found Jamie at the bar with a drink in her good hand. The glass was nearly empty. He reached for the bottle to refill it for her.

"I can handle it," she snapped, batting the bottle away with her splint.

Her face was clouded with anger; her body language left no doubt that she wanted to be left alone. Clearly, this would not be a good time to interact. Had he done something wrong? Searching his memory, he found nothing.

"Sorry," she relented a little. "Just not in a good way right now. I should probably be where other people aren't."

"Mind if I pour _me_ one?"

She handed him the bottle. "Knock yourself out."

"Where's Clementine?"

"In the other room. Playing games on the iPad. Don't worry, I'm not like this with her." Despite the words, irritation dripped from her voice.

"I'm not worried at all," he said unconvincingly.

Peeking around the corner, he found his daughter.

"Hey, kiddo. Need anything?"

"Nope, I'm good. Unless you know how to clear level nineteen."

"Anything but that."

If she were aware of Jamie's wildly fluctuating moods, she didn't show it.

Unfortunately, Mitch _was_ aware; moreover, he was aware of the cause, and the fact that only thirty-one hours remained. He had to finish the cure, administer it, and prove its effectiveness if he were to convince the global powers-that-be to halt the Noah Objective.

The moment Mitch walked away, Jamie felt her mood improve. _Why? He didn't do a damn thing to you._ Even now that she knew part of the reason for her distress was organic, she still had difficulty coping with it.

 _Suck it up. Things are tough for everyone these days. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem._

She decided to go see about Clementine.

"Still no luck on nineteen?"

"Nope."

"I wish I could help, but I need both hands."

"It's ok. My mom won't ever let me spend this much time on games. She makes me put it down after a while. She won't let me watch too much TV, either."

"Yeah, moms are like that."

"Why?"

"It's kinda her job, you know? Look out for you, teach you, do whatever she can to help you grow up healthy and happy."

Clem smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

"Seems to me like she's doing a pretty bang up job so far. Give her a break. I'm betting all your friends think their moms are over the top, too."

"Yeah. Did your mom drive you crazy, too?"

"Oh yeah, I think it's automatic once you hit nine or ten."

"When does it stop? When you're old?"

"I don't know," Jamie answered candidly. "My mom died when I was not much older than you are now."

"Oh. I didn't know."

"It's ok. I still really miss her, even though she drove me nuts sometimes. She was my mom, and I loved her. But I've learned to live with it. Cherish your parents; they will always love you…unconditionally. And when they do something that makes you angry, or won't let you do what you want to do, understand that it's because they love you and they just want what's best for you."

"Even Mitch?"

"Of course. I'm not going to try to pretend I know everything that happened, because I don't. He'll have to speak for himself there. But I do know that he loves you very much. Even when he wasn't around you. It was obvious when he talked about you how much he loves you."

"So what's the story with you guys?" Clem asked, suddenly sounding very grown up.

"The story is…very complicated."

"But you love him?"

"Yeah," Jamie admitted, "yeah, I do."

"But you're sick. You have the thing the animals do. So does the Jackson guy."

"Yes," Jamie nodded. _Mitch? Mitch, I need you for this conversation. She must have paid way too much attention when we were all in the kitchen talking about Folsom._

"The animals keep attacking people. You're not."

"Yeah, it's a little different. Don't worry, I won't hurt you and neither will Jackson."

"Are you going to die?"

 _Yes. No. Depends on Noah…Mitch?!_ "Mitch and the others, they're doing absolutely everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen."

"I hope it works."

"Me, too." Jamie yawned. "We've been awake since very early this morning. You about ready to hit the sack?"

"I guess. Good night." Clementine gave her a hug on her way to bed.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The clock ticked down to twenty-eight hours before Mitch came upstairs again. This time, he held a syringe and an alcohol pad in his hand as he sought Jamie. He found her in bed, sleeping fitfully. He would have loved to let her sleep, but the sooner he dosed her, the sooner he could get the result.

He clicked on the lamp. "Jamie?"

She startled awake, sitting straight up.

"Sorry," he soothed. "Didn't mean to surprise you."

"No problem," she yawned again. Her eyes settled on the syringe in his hand. "Is that it?"

"It's _something_. I guess we'll know soon enough."

An awkward pause followed. What was he waiting for? He seemed nervous; troubled.

"Why are you hesitating?"

"I can't really vouch for the sterility of this concoction I'm about to inject into your muscle."

"What have I really got to lose? You can always give me antibiotics if you need to."

"You realize, don't you, that I don't have the faintest idea what side effects or adverse reactions you might experience?"

"You don't have to keep selling me on it, Mitch, I'm on board." She hoped to put him at ease with a little levity. Still, his brow remained furrowed. "Seriously, is there a waiver you need me to sign?"

"Ok," he exhaled. "Here goes nothing."

He pushed the contents of the syringe into her upper arm. She rubbed it gently.

"So, what's next?"

"Ideally, I would wait maybe twenty four hours and redraw your DNA. But we don't have that kind of time. I need some kind of measurable improvement to delay the Noah launch. So we'll check it in eight hours."

She moved her hand to his cheek. "I'm sorry I flaked out on you earlier. You must be exhausted."

"Well if by 'exhausted' you mean falling asleep halfway up the stairs, then yes."

"Come on," she tugged on his arm. "Climb into bed. We'll just sleep."

She pulled his shoes off and cuddled up next to him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He woke to bright daylight streaming through the window. The plane sat on the tarmac in Washington, D.C.. How on earth had he slept through the landing? It was seven thirty; he'd need to draw Jamie's blood at nine. He was alone in the bed.

He passed by his own room on his way downstairs; Clementine was still sleeping.

He dialed Audra's number as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Hey, uh, we're back in D.C."

He fished the orange juice out of the fridge.

"Yeah, same place."

Bread went into the toaster.

"That's fine. She's still asleep."

Audra was on her way, having stayed just a few miles away.

Where the hell was everyone? They needed to get busy searching for Jackson. He came across a note on the counter. _Oh. They are looking for Jackson. They were being kind, letting me sleep._

He wandered to the lab and nearly dropped his orange juice when he saw Jackson Oz sitting there.

"This is a surprise."

"Hey, Mitch."

Jackson's demeanor was calm and collected, much to Mitch's relief.

"Mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"I had some things I needed to do. I knew you guys would be here."

"How's the shoulder?"

Jackson grinned amiably. "Nothing you can't handle." He took off his shirt.

Mitch cleaned the wound. "You've missed a few things."

"Like?"

"Like the fact that you have a mutation buddy."

"Jamie?"

"You knew?"

"No, not really. But once you said there was someone else, it was the obvious answer." He winced at the antiseptic. "How's she doing?"

"Better in some ways, worse in some ways. She got what I hope was the cure last night."

Jackson's face lit up. "It's ready?"

"Such as it is."

"When's the retest?"

"Oh…" Mitch checked his watch, "about forty five minutes from now."

"Good morning," a little voice piped up.

Clementine stood in the doorway. "Can I get myself some cereal?"

"Sure," Mitch nodded. "Wait, Clem this is Jackson. Jackson, this is my daughter Clementine."

"Nice to meet you, Clementine," Jackson smiled.

"You, too." She waved, and headed for the kitchen.

"You sure it's a good idea for her to be here?" Jackson wondered.

"Like I said-you've missed a few things." Mitch finished bandaging Jackson's gunshot wound. "And her mother's on her way to get her. Damn, I probably should've told her that."

He reached into the laboratory refrigerator. "Here, specially made just for you-you're welcome—is your very own injection that might help you or may possibly kill you if I screwed something up."

"Ha ha, I'll take my chances," Jackson said as he tilted his deltoid toward Mitch.

"Ok, it's eight thirty, so we'll draw your blood around four thirty."

"Look what the cat dragged in," Jamie said as she approached. Abe and Dariela followed behind her.

"Am I supposed to just walk in?" Another voice tentatively called from the rear.

They all turned to see an unfamiliar blonde woman; unfamiliar that is, to everyone but Mitch.

"Sure, join the party," he called.

"Everyone, this is Audra Lewis, Clem's mom. Audra, you've met Abe, and this is Dariela Marzan, Jamie Campbell and Jackson Oz, who should probably put on his shirt now. Clem's in the kitchen."

She followed him as he made his way there.

"Great," Jamie muttered under her breath, "another ex…"

The gang caught up while Mitch and Audra were in the kitchen. They regaled Jackson with tales of kidnappings, Chemical spills and some really cool mammoth photographs.

Mitch returned alone. The others dispersed, leaving Jamie and Mitch alone.

"Ready?" He asked Jamie as he gathered his supplies.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She sat on the edge of the exam table and bared her arm.

"Hopefully in a few hours, we will have some answers," Mitch said.

"Is Clem leaving us?"

"Yes. I don't know where they're going, though. Seems kind of pointless to go to the safe zone if we're going to have some resolution as soon as today."

"Jackson seems way better than I thought he'd be."

"Small miracles."

Mitch leaned his back against the wall, bracing himself with his palms. After a long silence, he admitted, "I don't know what to do with myself."

Jamie smiled. "Relax. Put your feet up. Have a drink…or three. You've earned it."

Though she was loathe to admit it, Jamie knew there was one more thing that needed to be done.

"You gonna call Allison? Let her know you have the cure and she needs to contact whoever it is she needs to contact to stop Noah?"

"As soon as we get a positive result," he gestured toward the machine processing her DNA.

Audra and Clementine entered. "Mitch? If you don't mind me asking, what's going on here?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and your friends, you've been trying to find the cure for this mutation, right?"

Mitch nodded.

"Clem said you're really close to it?"

"Hopefully," he answered. "We're waiting on the lab results now."

"Do you guys mind if we hang out?"

"No," Jamie said genially, "it's fine. Stick around. He's too nervous right now to admit it, but history is being made here today. Be a part of it with us."

"Where's Justin?" Mitch asked.

"He had to go back to Boston. He'll be here this evening," she said. She seemed as if she had something more she wanted to say. She glanced at her daughter.

"Clem, why don't you head upstairs to watch tv?" Mitch suggested.

"Should I run along, too?" Jamie asked honestly.

"No," Audra replied, "you're fine."

"Are you all right?" He asked.

"This gas," she began, "that they're planning to use against the animals. There are rumors that it's not safe for humans, either. Is that true?"

"It will kill millions, if not billions, of people," he told her bluntly.

"Are you sure?"

"It already killed a dear friend of ours," Jamie confirmed.

"I thought it was only supposed to kill animals with that specific genetic mutation."

"Even if that were true, consider this: two out of five members of our team have the mutation. That's forty percent. While those numbers may or may not reflect the general population, it's still pretty sobering to imagine anywhere near forty percent of the worlds population dying like that. And Chloe didn't even _have_ the mutation."

"So the Noah Objective has to be stopped," Audra concluded.


End file.
